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The Latin Mass in My Own Words
A Monthly Column dedicated to the Laity of the Latin Mass
Courage!
"Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, on fire with love of us, inflame our hearts with love of Thee."
There are many ways we can show our love and appreciation to God for our wonderful Tridentine Mass. Using the talents God has given each of us, we can be ambassadors for Christ in thought, word, and deed.
In our prayers we can thank God for preserving and providing the Mass; for Bishop Griffin and Bishop Campbell; Fr. Lutz and all priests who pray the Mass; the acolytes; the choir; and all of the many volunteers who help maintain our church and its grounds. We can also thank God for all the parishes who pray the Latin Mass; fellow Una Voce members; workers at Ecclesia Dei; all priests and seminarians, brothers, nuns, and novitiates of traditional inclinations and for their propagation.
Make sure to thank Bishop Campbell, Fr. Lutz, the acolytes, the choir and volunteers in person or by messages (mail, email, etc). Anytime is a good time, but most especially at Christmas, Easter, reception of sacraments, and anniversaries (Fr. Lutz's anniversary of his ordination is Nov. 11).
Want to do more? Me too! Start at home with you and your family. Be an example to your children and a strength to your spouse and relatives. If possible get the things they need to be stronger Catholics. Be positive, energetic, and patient. Let your love and zeal show through your voice, facial expressions, body language, and actions. When talking to non-family/relatives, your enthusiasm must be no less. Invite everyone and pressure no one. Know the Tridentine Mass and the Faith. Learn the answers to commonly asked questions. If you don't know the answer, get it as soon as possible and relate it at the first opportunity. Never put down the Novus Ordo to promote the Tridentine - the Latin Mass has been standing on its own merits for thousands of years.
If you have time or money to spare, you can pick up shut-ins for Mass, attend Una Voce meetings, and/or contribute to Holy Family, Una Voce, Ecclesia Dei, Fraternity of St. Peter, and other traditional movements. Holy Family could use some videos from Ecclesia Dei for explaining the Latin Mass. It would be nice to have extra veils and chapel caps. Can you sew, tat, crochet, etc? How about making some altar cloths, vestments or chapel veils? How about bringing the traditional influence to RCIA or CCD? Do you like to sing? Join the choir and enjoy the beautiful view of the altar!
Are you a child or young adult? You have talents too. Learn to make rosaries, be an altar boy, help keep the church clean by dusting or sweeping. Plant flowers in the spring. Sing along at church, hold the door for someone, learn how to use the elevator in case someone asks for assistance. Be an example of proper behavior in church to those younger than you. If you see a new kid, say hello. Join the Dead Theologian Society. Most of all, learn to pray the Mass. Talk to God often. Pray without ceasing.
November is the last month of the Church year. If this were our last month on earth, how much more zeal we would have for our Mass. Let us use this last month in just that way. Advent is approaching. Christ's birth is imminent. Let us bring our zeal to the crib and a new friend of Christ. There are over 200 of us at the Columbus Latin Mass. We can all use our talents to show our love and respect for the Latin Mass and the vibrant but ancient traditions of our Faith. Plant a seed today, and God will grow a flower in His garden tomorrow.
Tracy- Columbus, OH
"O my Jesus, Thou knowest well that I love Thee;
but I do not love Thee enough;
O grant that I may love Thee more.
O love that burnest ever and never failest, my God,
Thou who art charity itself,
Enkindle in my heart that divine fire which consumes the saints
And transforms them into Thee. Amen.
May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved in every place."
Indulgence of 300 days, each time - Pius IX, Sept. 20,1860; S.P. Ap., March 10, 1933
The Sacred Silence of the Mass
The Mass continues. We hear the wisdom of God in the Holy Scriptures and are instructed by His Bride the Church, in the person of the priest. We prepare our offering - the offering of ourselves, weak and poor as we are, in union with Christ who makes all things new. At the Latin Mass, we must do this silently, as it seems, almost helplessly. But we are not helpless. In the silence lies the strength. Our Lord himself was silent, "like a lamb led to the slaughter, he opened not His mouth." Our Lady too, on the hill of Calvary was silent. In her silence she was more united with the sufferings of her Son than any other.
As the bells ring for the Sanctus there is such a holy expectation of what is to come! We ready ourselves, in silence and the singing of the Sanctus, with a whole company of angels, for the coming of Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Savior, Jesus the fulfillment of all the prophecies and of all our desires. At Holy Consecration's bell, He comes - Jesus, born for us on the altar, and at the same time crucified for us - redeeming us, conquering sin and death. Again, there is the silence. The solemn words of Christ Himself are spoken so softly that most of us cannot hear them. But we see His body lifted heavenward in the hands of the priest. We see the priest standing before the crucifix, and it is easy to imagine ourselves right there beneath the cross with him, as witnesses to our redemption. Our Lord doesn't stop there. It is not enough for Him to let us witness these Sacred Mysteries. He wants to give us so much more - everything, in fact. He commands us to partake of His very Flesh and Blood!
So in the sacred silence of this Mass, we have been welcomed into the Father's House as sons and heirs, we have helped Our Lord prepare for the Pasch, we have been to
Selena- Columbus, OH
Latin Mass Preferred by Teenager
Teresa- Falls Church, VA
The Spark for an Eight Year Old Boy...and His Mother
Two of the most important men in my life brought me to the Latin Mass; my father, and my son Patrick. Growing up, my family fully embraced the Novus Ordo. I knew nothing different until a couple of years ago. I was aware that our Church was in flux, struggling to make sense of Vatican II and I was also aware of a sorrow that existed in my father's heart. It was a sorrow over something very beautiful which he had lost. I could see he kept deep in his heart a burning love for the Latin Mass.
With my father in mind, I was eager to take my children to a special Latin Mass Father Lutz celebrated for Marion Catholic Latin students. We went to this Mass and my son Patrick has never been the same. For at least two hours after the Mass Pat was "in heaven." He had a sort of glow about him that I had never seen before.
"Wasn't it beautiful Mom?" he said later that day as we were coming out of the grocery.
"What's beautiful?" was my reply; going about my busy day.
"The Mass, Mom! The Latin Mass," he said.
A spark ignited in the heart of an eight year old boy that day and its fire continues to burn. Somehow I believe that a torch was passed through the generations that day. A flame of love for the Latin Mass was passed from my father down to my son and it gives us all hope for the future of these sacred mysteries.
A few months ago, at the gentle urging of my son Patrick, I began taking him to the 9:00 a.m. Mass so he could serve. While waiting for him, I began to attend and am slowly learning how to pray the Mass in this new (ancient) way. What an incredible gift the Lord is offering me. As a mother of seven, ages 12 on down to 15 months, attending Mass and giving my full attention to Jesus has been a challenge. Now, for the first time in twelve years, I am going to Mass and am able to devote all my effort to prayer. Now each Sunday it is as if I get my own personal retreat with Jesus. He calls me out into the silence of the Latin Mass where I am able to enter into the "interior of my soul" and listen to His voice.
One might think that being inwardly focused one would lose sight of others. However, paradoxically, I have found at the Latin Mass a feeling of incredible solidarity with other members of the Body of Christ, especially with the sick and suffering. On further contemplation of this phenomenon, it became perfectly clear that as one's union with Christ deepen so does ones union with His body, the Church. One of my favorite parts in the Mass is the "Dominus Vobiscum" and response. Even my six year old son can remember this response. I tried to explain the meaning to him once by telling him it's like Father asking, "Are you with me? Are you praying with me? Are you following along? Are you giving your own heart to the Father, united with Our Lord's?" I told him he should be able to respond whole heartily, "Oh yes Father, I am with you! I am praying for you and with you." What a great reminder of our solidarity in Christ.
The Latin Mass is often likened to heaven and I would agree any Mass takes us to heaven, but the Latin Mass reminds me of heaven in a special way. My mother once described heaven as an "eternity of discovery", where we will be continually discovering the infinite beauties of God and His goodness. Well, that is exactly what the Latin Mass has been for me! Each Sunday I discover something new, gain a little better understanding of the rituals, traditions, and the language used and hence delve deeper into the mysteries of God as revealed in His Church and in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Tridentine Rite. I guess I have discovered a little of that fire burning in me!!
O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All Praise and All Thanksgiving
Be Every Moment Thine !
Julie- Grove City, OH
In this Mass, I have 2000 Years of History, Martyrdom, and Holiness to Examine
Of the many things that can be said about the traditional Mass, perhaps the most memorable is its description as "the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven". It is not difficult for the traditional Catholic to have a sense of joy from the blessings he receives at this Mass. It is here that he can give his problems to our Lord and offer Him the crosses he carries daily. It is here that the Word made flesh dwells among us and it is here that we are given the graces necessary for salvation.
The Mass is the single unifying element to our Catholic culture and through it our traditions and our beliefs permeate our personal lives. If we are to love Christ in the Holy Eucharist then we must live our lives according to His divine law and His particular vocation for us. Today, the sacrificial elements of the Mass have been removed and so the very spirit of the Mass has changed. If the Mass is the cornerstone of our faith, then what is to be said of the changes made to it during the last 40 years? Are we spiritually better off for the changes that took place or are we doomed to failure? What effects do the changes bring to our lives? If the sacrificial nature of the Mass has been eliminated then what effect does that have on our spiritual lives? Is it possible to have charity without sacrifice?
These are questions I have asked myself time and again with regard to the traditional Mass. I will take this opportunity to make a few comments on the Latin Mass and why I am perhaps a bit of an oddity among traditionalists who reject the changes made to the Mass. I am in fact quite happy that the changes were made; not in the way that the modernist is happy, but in a way that a Catholic should be happy considering the alternative.
First, it is important to realize the terrible abuses that infected the Church during Her "Golden Age" of the 1940's and 1950's. Masses were being celebrated in 15 minutes, priests were already allowing innovations into the liturgy, and these same priests were leading lives of both public and private sin. The pot was brimming with dissent, heresy and scandal. What is worse, though, is that Catholics did not see nor did they notice what was taking place under their noses. The situation was further complicated by the almost blind obedience beat into the heads of the faithful by the bishops and priests of the Church. The time had come for Vatican II and the changes that would result therein. Once the changes took place with regard to the laws and traditions of the Church, the liturgy would follow suit. After all, Vatican II was supposed to address the abuses outlined above as part of the agenda of the Council. It was not until later that all of the chips would fall into place with the introduction of a totally new liturgy, a Novus Ordo Missae.
Considering this situation, what could it be that I am happy with? It is simple. Adam’s fault was called O felix culpa!, "Oh happy fault" for by his transgression we were given the Savior. Likewise, the faulted changes to the Mass enabled Catholics like you and me to take a stand and fight for the liturgy as it was intended by our Lord to be celebrated. We, the laity, along with many brave and holy priests and bishops demanded that the Church restore the liturgy- the unnecessary casualty of the Council. The faulted innovations actually gave us back the traditional Latin Mass.
The history of the Church and the lives of the Saints prove the direct correlation between the Faith and the necessity of the Mass. It is this necessity that makes me shun the new Rite and embrace the old Rite. Why? With the old Rite I have two thousand years of history, martyrdom and holiness to examine. I have a Rite that produced saint upon saint and holy martyr upon holy martyr. I have the assurance of knowing that I attend the same liturgy that St. Pius X did or that St. Alphonsus de Liguori did. In short, I know that I have a Rite blessed by God. I participate each Sunday and Holy Day in "the most beautiful thing this side of heaven". This is the cause of my joy.
John- Galloway, OH
Come on, Honey, just give the Latin Mass a try !
It was Spring of 2001 when I attended my first Latin Mass. I remember not being particularly excited about it. After all, it was in a language I did not understand, and I just didn’t know how to follow along. I initially attended because of deficient translations in the Novus Ordo. What kept me going at first was the feeling that I had simply been deprived of a great tradition of Holy Mother Church. But within a few months I was in love. The deep symbolism, Gregorian Chant, the incense and bells, the elegant vestments, the postures and times of silence; it was all so beautifully sacred.
Meanwhile my fiance, who was still attending the vernacular Mass, was not too interested in attending the Latin Mass. I remember thinking to myself, “Will we be going to separate Masses every Sunday? Will I be able to convince her to give the Latin Mass a try?” At one point I asked her, “Will you just give it a few months and if you don’t like it I’ll never bug you about it again?” So she said yes, and we’ve never looked back.
A few months after we were married, we overslept one Sunday morning and found ourselves at a later English Mass. To our astonishment this Mass no longer felt like home. Our home was now Holy Family at 9am every Sunday for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Tim- Orient, OH
From Chaos to Profound Beauty
I must admit that my first reaction to the Latin Mass greatly differed from that of my husband. We were converts of only a year, and I had just gotten comfortable with the new ‘dance’ I had learned in the Novus Ordo Mass. Having come from an Evangelical background, it was all very foreign to me.
Then a dear friend of ours introduced us to the Latin Mass nearby. It was nearly silent, in a language I had never heard, headcoverings were mandatory, and even though all the women were wearing them, it made me very uncomfortable and self-conscious. Add trying to read along with a priest who spoke at record speed and juggling an 18-month-old and trying to keep her silent for over an hour, and it was a recipe for disaster in my mind.
And when I saw how much my husband loved it, I cried all the way home! I knew that he wanted to return to the Latin Mass on Sundays, and I of course would go with him, but I made it known that I did not enjoy it! Then I borrowed a Missal and read the richness of the prayers, and began to understand the reasons behind what the priest was saying and doing at certain points during the Mass. Slowly, but surely, I began to see the beauty and grace in this new dance which we were to learn. Most amazing of all was the behavior of my little girl. She had requested her own kneeler, would sing with us, fold her hands in prayer, and beat her breast at the appropriate times.
Previously, even at not quite two years old, she had learned the routine offered by the Novus Ordo. I wondered what she would do with this great period of silence we now required of her, where there were few actions or responses with which to follow along; very little, it seemed to me, to capture the attention of such a young child. It was incredible. Within a few weeks of attending Sunday Latin Mass, we no longer needed to take her to the cry room at the back. Of course she didn't follow along as she did in the Novus Ordo, but she was silent, and would still kneel when we knelt, sit when we sat, and was respectfully silent the rest of the time.
After about one year of attending the Latin Mass, my husband changed jobs and we moved to Kentucky. The closest Latin Mass was in Louisville, three hours from where we lived. The far greater tragedy was that the Catholic church in our small town was paganized in the mid-1970's, and had lost all semblance of a Catholic church. There was no trace of the old altar. A banner had replaced the crucifix, which was hidden in a back corner, lest we be reminded of our sin and need of a Saviour. There were no kneelers as the pews had been replaced by chairs. A nun who came to that church during the "renovations" had rescued the beautiful statues of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart, and they reside in her home to this day. And, once again, I wept all the way home (many times), but for very different reasons! The Mass was disorderly, chaotic, and the change in my daughter's behavior was drastic and immediate. From the second Sunday there until the day we left, we were constantly having to discipline her for bad behavior in Mass. We had been tripped up in our dance, and no one around us was following the same steps.
In September of this year, my husband was transferred to Circleville, and our first task was to find a Latin Mass in the area. We did not yet know where we would live, but we knew where we would be attending Mass! And I am most pleased to say that my daughter’s behavior (she's now almost five) is turning around noticeably, even in just the few short months we've been here. The powerful graces transmitted through the Latin Mass are having their effect on her, and she once again recognizes the honor, respect and great love due to Our Lord, and is able (and encouraged) to respond accordingly. It took me a few Masses to be reminded of the steps of the dance, but now I am doing more dancing and less thinking about the steps. I am reminded of the depth and beauty of the prayers, the extreme reverence due to Our Eucharistic Lord, and the unity with the Church throughout history, and that is why I love the Latin Mass.
Sandy- Circleville, OH
The "Dance" of the Traditional Latin Liturgy
The Latin Mass is a blessing for my family, but a blessing of discipline. We are converts of six years from Evangelical Protestantism. For some people the Latin Mass feels like falling back into their favorite recliner. An Evangelical praise and worship service still feels like a favorite recliner to us. However, we recognized that a praise and worship service was a severely limited experience. It only united us to the other people in the room in the most superficial way, and to the generations of Christians before us not at all.
The power of liturgy-based worship is in the unity—a unity in both space (the people in the room) and time (the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before). This unity is the answer to our Lord’s final prayer before entering His Passion—it was His heart’s cry. There is a natural power in unity, because there is unity in the Godhead. It’s a natural power so potent that it is even necessary to frustrate when it’s turned against God (i.e. the Tower of Babel).
The saints before us determined to build a holy Tower to reach the Divine—a feat prompted by the Spirit of the Divine and built upon the cornerstone that is the Sacrifice of the Divine. They built that Tower from three stepping-stones—purgation, illumination, and unification. These stones are quite overt in the order and language of the traditional Latin Mass—they are present in the Novus Ordo, but, in my opinion, more obscured.
These holy men and women who came before us, generations upon generations—saecula saeculorum in the truest sense, they loved diversity more than we do. But they knew the wisdom of Solomon. They knew the importance of times and seasons. They discerned the time of unifying ourselves with the Divine was not the season to celebrate mundane diversities.
A standard Evangelical praise and worship service would take us all over the place—through experiences of contrition, thanksgiving, joy, adoration, sorrow, anger, restoration—you name it and it may take you there. The problem is that one never knows where it’s going to take you and when. And more often the ministers of that experience don’t know where it’s going to take you either. The unity in that experience is limited in both frequency and extent.
C.S. Lewis, compared the glories of a unified liturgy to a dance. He makes an important observation: so long as one is thinking about the steps of the dance, one is not dancing. A liturgy doesn’t try to be all things to all people. It has a specific work to be accomplished by the faithful—together. Now is the time for us to entreat, then we are penitent, then we are thankful, and so it goes. Each step is the same every time. We are not distracted with what may or may not come next; we already know. We can bend all of our being to the work at hand. I know my wife is doing the same work right next to me, and the man four pews in back of me with the crooked tie and the wonderful singing voice? We are all on the same rung of the same Ladder of Jacob.
The Latin Mass is a dance. Each measured step offers the perfect mix of purpose and surrender. It offers anyone entering into it dancing partners such as Thomas Aquinas, Therese of Lisieux, John of the Cross, Thomas More, all the celebrities of the heaven…who better to guide us in the steps to God?
Joshua- Circleville, OH
Transcending Race, Culture, and Time
I am often asked why I love the Latin Mass so much. Sometimes the thought behind the question is “You go to the LATIN Mass?!” But when the emphasis is changed to "I go to the Latin MASS", the meaning becomes clearer.
When I come to Mass, it to pray the greatest prayer we have to offer with my whole body, soul, mind, and strength. Within its prayers are reparation, petition, adoration, and thanksgiving. When I am sitting in a pew, I sit not only with my family but with my guardian angel and my patron saints. At the consecration, I imagine angels filling the left and right sides of the altar, with more angels “carrying the Host to the altar on high.” At the ceiling I picture Heaven looking down. At the altar floor Purgatory and Hell are brought to the sacrifice, thus uniting the whole Church - Militant, Suffering, and Triumphant.
It is a wonderful thought that all over the world we are praying the same prayers. This Mass transcends race, culture, and time. Every prayer, every action, every fabric and object has a purpose. Because of this Mass, seminaries such as the Fraternity of St. Peter are flooded with young men, and convents are growing. This simple yet profound prayer of the Mass draws people with its visual elements and calls them back each week to learn more of the interior mystery of the sacrifice of the Mass.
Saints and sinners have attended the Tridentine Mass for centuries. Martyrs have died for the truths contained within its ancient prayers. This Mass is our heritage. It is at this Mass that I feel Catholic. It truly is “The most beautiful thing this side of Heaven.” – Fr. Faber
Tracy- Lewis Center, OH
Coming Home
I love going to the Latin Mass because I know I have come back home. To smell the incense, hear the bells, see the holy water being disbursed on the congregation, see the traditional vestments and to hear the singing of our beloved Catholic hymns all tug at my heart. I remember what I have just described as the Mass of my childhood and it is still here today.
To attend the Latin Mass is like turning back in history from the founding of our Faith up to the years of the 1960’s when the Mass was violated and wounded. By attending the Latin Mass, I know I am seeing, hearing, and praying the Mass as was done so beautifully over so many centuries. It is a gift from God that I am able to understand and attend this true re-enactment of Calvary- the unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass.
The priest saying the Latin Mass faces the altar to represent the people when he offers the sacrifice of the Mass to God our Father rather than facing the people as he prepares the meal. At the Latin Mass the people do not have their attention drawn from the Consecrated Host on the altar while they turn to shake hands, hug or kiss. Nor does the Latin Mass feel like simply a Sunday obligation as it felt to me in the vernacular Mass since the 1960’s. When I attend the Latin Mass now, I often have a warm feeling around my heart. I am happy and thank Jesus for allowing me to realize the importance of the Latin Mass. I pray that week by week more will come to love this Mass as I do.
J.S.- Columbus, OH
Learning the Faith through the Latin Mass
I grew up during the 70’s and 80’s in a suburban, secular, protestant-ized parish. From the lack of direction received from my parish and parish school, I quickly realized that I could get by with putting forth minimal effort in doing good and avoiding bad.
This effort (or lack thereof) continued well into my late 20’s. All the while, many lessons of strict discipline from my parents when I was a small child still guided most of what I knew was right and wrong. I can’t remember any essential lessons of direction and definition being taught at school or church. Most lessons taught there were very diluted.
In college I assisted a traditional Catholic (there are those two words together again) professor with some research and I began to realize that there was much more involved in being Catholic than just simply being kind to others. I also realized that many true teachings and strict traditions that have been handed down over the centuries were no longer being used or taught. So I began to search and found them at the Latin Mass.
When I was better able to appreciate my Faith and the true meaning of the Sacraments, it became apparent that those traditions were still readily available at the Latin Mass. They were not buried in some vague reference for almost everyone to miss.
After almost 30 years of living a selfish existence, I woke up one morning at a Latin Mass and realized how really undeserving I am. Even so, Christ Himself has, through His mercy, blessed me with His sanctifying graces. And no where else but at a Latin Mass have I ever been this close to something so perfect. For all of these reasons, I am so very grateful to be a part of such traditions. The Latin Mass has effectively become the foundation on which I am able to make the best decisions for my family, myself, and my road to eternity.
David- Marion, OH
The Overwhelming Beauty of the Mass
On a summer night in 2002 I received a phone call from my sister asking me if I knew if there was a Latin Mass offered in Columbus. My reply was, “Maybe at St. Patrick’s, but I really don’t know,” and I became curious why she would even ask me such a question. Well, one thing lead to another and she told me not long after that she and her friends were planning on going to Holy Family for a traditional Latin Mass the following Sunday. That Sunday afternoon the phone rang. It was my sister crying into the phone and telling me how she was so spiritually affected by the Latin Mass. She said she was going to join Holy Family Church.
My curiosity got the best of me especially since I thought the Latin Mass did not exist anymore. So the next Sunday I went myself and no sooner was I walking down the aisle getting ready to genuflect when I had this amazing feeling of coming home, of being called back by Christ Himself to His most sacred worship.
At Mass, the singing of the Gloria and Credo was absolutely glorious- Oh, to be able to express again my deep-down love for Our Lord! The times of silence also, when the priest is speaking to Jesus and we contemplate ourselves on the mystery of the Mass or marvel at what will soon be taking place at the Consecration, is a wonderful way to prepare ourselves for Holy Communion. The beautiful prayers and gestures our priests make during the Consecration, the bells being rung; everything combined brings us closer to God as we realize what is happening on the altar. The memorial of Calvary is not lost in the Latin Mass!
John- Grandview Heights, OH
The Mass of the Saints
I attended my first Latin Mass three years ago in Columbus. A young visiting priest was celebrating one of his first Latin Masses. He was my mothers spiritual director and invited us to attend. During that Mass I felt the majesty and awe of what was happening on the altar. I could not believe the difference between the traditional Mass and the new rite. I wondered what happened to the Mass?? How could it have changed so drastically over such a short period of time?
I had been a parishoner attending another downtown church regularly, but I kept having an inner prompting to go back to the traditional Latin Mass. After a while I could no longer ignore it. I called my mother and said, "Let's go to the Latin Mass: I feel I must go." Well, after that I was hooked and started going every Sunday. The beauty of the Latin Mass never ceases to amaze me. It is the Mass of the Saints. I truly feel I am on Calvary at the Latin Mass. The graces that I receive while attending are overwhelming; I am in Heaven for that whole hour. I have never felt the same graces at any other Mass. I know that someone prayed me to the traditional Mass and for that I am grateful because now I truly am practicing the Faith of the Fathers!
J.A.- Westerville, OH
Latin Mass- Steadfast Friend over many Miles and Years
I first attended a traditional Latin Mass when I was nineteen while living in Brooklyn. My father had suggested I attend a Latin Mass at St. Agnes in Manhattan to spur me back to church after a two year hiatus. I actually- and I can only blame God for this- somehow wanted to go. I had never seen a traditional Latin Mass. I had never seen a Missal, a benediction, a procession, or heard Gregorian Chant or polyphony in all my Catholic life. None of it was nostalgia for me. It was all new. I became a different person during that first Mass. When I got back to Brooklyn that night, I felt like I didn’t recognize the world anymore. I put on a recording of Monteverde’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, knelt down, and began reciting a Rosary, crying through the whole thing- for my faith, for my past, for the overwhelming realization that the Church was beautiful- not for anything I had chosen to believe, but just that she was. All this I saw after one glorious Latin Mass.
It was a thirty minute commute with two subway transfers from my apartment to St. Agnes but I trudged through snow, rain, and peer insults to get there every week. I met Fr. George Rutler there who became my confessor and Frs. Shelley, Clark, Perricone, Farley- I remember them all. Every priest at St. Agnes was a friend. No agenda, no clericalism, no facades, just honest true friendship; a friendship which the ancient Mass imbues.
At St. Agnes I joined the choir and helped in the soup kitchen. I had become a real parishioner even though I was from Brooklyn. It turned out that I was not alone. Many people I met came from as far as Stamford, Passaic, and even Westchester county. I began to realize that being a traditional Catholic (need there be such a redundancy of words?) meant being “on the road” many hours to take part in active parish life.
This proved true when I moved to Columbus for the first time. I would travel to Dayton’s Holy Family Latin Mass on Sundays and split my time in “parish life” by singing in the schola there while joining other groups at St. Patrick in Columbus. In 1997, my wife and I were married in the traditional rite in Dayton and then moved to the Chicago area. There, we traveled over an hour to downtown Chicago each week for the Latin Mass at St. John Cantius. Fr. Phillips, the pastor, welcomed us personally and encouraged everyone with his dedication to traditional Catholicism and his friendship. Although we traveled many miles, we never felt like outsiders and had our two eldest daughters baptized there.
In 2001 we moved to Washington, DC where we found the traditional Latin Mass at Mary Mother of God Church on 5th Street. Once again, we felt at home because we shared the same love of the Mass that brought the other 300 people there each week from all over the region. I joined the schola and made many friends who shared the one same honest, loving and true friend; the ancient Mass of our Faith.
I have known, from that first Mass when I was nineteen, that I am always alone and yet never alone in a world that hates the Latin Mass. Traveling on the Lexington IRT, or on the toll road to Chicago, or on the Yellow Line to Mt. Vernon Square, or on I-70 to Dayton, allowed me time to realize that I can’t help loving and living for the Mass that fed all the saints. The traditional Latin Mass is my truest friend; always there for me, waiting for me, even if I have to go many miles to see her. She never lets me down, never contradicts herself, never lies to me, and is always beautiful and pure even when she is scourged by her Church or the world.
We as traditional Catholics, despite the indifference of our Catholic acquaintances or clergy, have a true friendship that they do not- a friendship not with bits and pieces of our past, not with an insecurity or denial of our heritage, not with things that are invented for modernity’s sake, but with ALL of our past, ALL of our Popes and Saints, ALL of our Traditions and NOTHING of Novelty or of Indifference or Dishonesty- an unbroken benevolent lineage that will never break for the sake of impressing the world. The Latin Mass never abandons us or deceives us, but continuously sings beautifully for us of Truth and Fidelity. We may feel alone because this separates us from a skeptical, angry and confused world, but we have an ontological and unremitting bond with the traditional Catholic Latin Mass - our truest friend. Let us bring her to all who, in this world of self-interest and deceit, search for true friendship and Love.
Bill- Columbus, OH
Come and See for Yourself All the Beauty !
Why do I love the Latin Mass? Do I really understand all that Latin? These are questions that I have been asked more than a few times since the introduction of the new rite of Mass in 1969. Let me give you a few answers that I’ve shared with people over the years.
To begin with, the traditional Latin Mass was part and parcel of my life and spiritual sustinence for thirty-six years (1933-1969). I also take consolation in knowing that for many centuries going back to the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great it was the Church’s liturgical expression of the Eucharistic Sacrifice celebrated nearly the same way in every country of the world. Looking specifically at the Latin, it truly is not a communication impediment as some might think. To the contrary, it provides a definite unifying quality and universality in the liturgy. The best tool, of course, for praying the Mass is the Latin/English missal which has all the Latin prayed by the priest and servers with the English translations. What results is 100% participation in the Sacred Mystery and, formerly, the ability to go anywhere in the world and feel at home at the Mass. It makes possible the fulfillment of the admonition by Pope St. Pius X to all the faithful: “Don’t pray at Holy Mass, pray the Holy Mass.”
There is a definite solemnity and reverence in the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass. After all, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the King of kings, is truly present in the tabernacle on the altar and therefore He commands the love, honor, and respect a King rightly deserves.
The prayers of the Mass are so beautiful. Both the Ordinary (those prayers that do not change) and the Propers (those that are specific to the day) are quite edifying and so graceful that one’s heart and soul are easily drawn into homage of Our Lord.
There are many highlights in the Mass which assist one in continual prayer before the Eucharistic Sacrifice taking place. The Secret prayers, the Preface and others remind us that the priest, through his sacerdotal power, is offering a holy oblation in reparation for our sins to the Eternal Father. When we receive Holy Communion with Our Lord, we feed on the Sacrificial Lamb from the consecrated hands of the priest who says in Latin, “May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ keep thy soul unto life everlasting. Amen.”
It is truly an edifying experience to witness and fully participate in the Immemorial Mass of our Roman heritage. To quote the Oratorian Fr. Frederick Faber’s oft-repeated words, this Holy Mass is, “the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven.”
For those who have not yet experienced the spiritual delights of the traditional Latin Mass, I offer this invitation: Come and see for yourself all the beauty of your Catholic heritage!
Bob- Columbus, OH
Tradition Brought Me Back
I am a “cradle Catholic”, a child of the 80’s, and until I was nine or so I went to Mass almost every Sunday with my family. But I began to drift away from the Church as my family did when we refused Sunday Masses each week in favor of the infrequent Holy Day attendance. We always attended suburban parishes, so I had no exposure to the older inner city "ethnic" parishes of San Francisco housed in traditional architecture and retaining some liturgical tradition. All that I had ever known was the Mass with folk/pop liturgical music, communion under both species and a host of EME’s (Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist) on the altar.
After I started drifting away from the Church -even before my teen years- and with my family only going during Christmas and Easter, I began to despise going to Mass. To me, it was all just an hour of bad music, hollow lessons in how to "be nice", and going up to take bread and wine. Yes, even though I was a “cradle Catholic”, I never really knew that the Eucharist was truly Jesus!
By my early 20’s, I had fallen away from the Church completely, not even going to Mass on Holy Days. But shortly before my 26th birthday, I really realized that I had a big void- a spiritual void in my life, so I decided to go back to the Church and attend Mass. I first went to a Saturday vigil Mass in the summer of 2001 at a local parish. I was not impressed. It still had the same dreadful music and the same hollow sermons. I still had no idea what the Eucharist was.
Then I started to listen to the local EWTN radio station and began to learn some aspects of my faith. I even learned that Latin was not dead and buried. Listening to their Mass on the radio, I was struck by the beauty of Latin. I still didn't go to Mass every Sunday, but now I had gone to confession a couple of times.
One day I noticed a small chapel with a sign which read “Roman Catholic Church, Traditional Latin Mass” with Mass times on it and "Served by the priests of the Society of St. Pius X". And so one morning out of curiosity (and I only had the intention of going there once), I decided to go. When I went inside, the first thing that struck me was how many young families were there! I expected the parishioners to all be much older. The next thing that struck me was the youth of the priest- probably in his 30’s! But that was nothing compared to how I was fully struck when the priest started to celebrate the Mass: facing the altar and in Latin. While I could not understand it and didn't know how to follow a missal yet, I knew this was my connection -not to modern novelty like at so many parishes I had known- but back to the beginning of the Church. The young priest’s homily was like nothing I had heard before- powerful and meaningful. But what brought it all home for me was the moment of the Consecration when the bells rang and the priest, facing the altar, held the host high in the air. It was then that Christ finally revealed to me what the Eucharist was: His own Body and Blood! From that moment I was changed forever by the true meaning of the Mass.
I attended this SSPX chapel for the next six weeks or so, but I also had issues with their irregular status in the Church. In Sacramento, however, there was an indult Mass approved by the local bishop and now served by two Fraternity of St. Peter priests. I quickly found out where it was and started to attend there. I have been going to the Traditional Latin Mass every week since then.
To me, the Traditional Latin Mass is why I didn't abandon the Faith again. It is what changed me from a tepid Catholic into a Catholic who tries to live the Faith fully. It brings home to me how powerful the Eucharist is; it makes me yearn to know Christ ever more intimately.
John- Columbus, OH
Love Replaces Ignorance
I started attending Tridentine Latin Masses over two years ago. I became interested in the Mass after reading about the history of the Church as well as the writings of William F. Buckley and Thomas Craughwell on the traditional Mass. Perhaps a final push to get me to attend came when I checked out the Latin Mass Magazine website. Articles about the reverence, the rubrics and the music of the Tridentine Mass further inspired me (I'm a lover of sacred classical music).
The first time I went to a Latin Mass was in May of 2001. I remember reading that people used to pray the Rosary during the Mass before the promulgation of the Novus Ordo. So I brought my Rosary and prayed it while the Mass was being said. I stopped when the readings were said in English and resumed after the homily. Reading one of the Missals available to borrow, however, informed me that we should focus on the Mass when it is said. This came from the writings of St. Pius X- one of my favorite popes and saints!
The next week I went to a Solemn High Mass offered by a visiting priest from The Fraternity of St. Peter. I had some trouble trying to follow in one of the red missals, but being attentive to what was going on at the altar to a greater degree made me appreciate the beauty of it all. I cried during the Mass...and during the closing hymn. I had been away from the Catholic Church for five years and then returned in 2000. It is the Latin Mass which made me aware of what I was looking for when I returned to the Catholic Faith.
N.L.- Canal Winchester, OH